I am at a loss to explain how it got to be December. It seems like it was just June — where did those five months go?

For no reason except that it amused me, here is a photo of the sky at about 8:00 this morning.

Yesterday it was grey and miserable. It’s pretty darn chilly today, but nice and bright.

As much as I like rain, it does make it difficult to get good blog photos. Here is a natural light photo of my lace project (as opposed to the flash pic I posted yesterday):

That may show the emerging pattern a bit more. Still, it is nigh on impossible to get a good photo of lace in porgress, given that it is unblocked and smooshed up on a needle. You’ll just have to use your imagination.

Because this is a smaller project — a shawlette — I’m hoping to have it done by the weekend so that you don’t have long to wait to see what it really looks like.

I had a great time down in Virginia Beach this past weekend. There was a book-signing/party Friday night at KnitWits that was a blast. I met a lot of fun knitters and thoroughly enjoyed myself. My friend Rusty did a nice photo-filled blog post about it here.

Rusty and her husband Larry had just returned from a trip to Canada and Rusty brought me some prezzies:

To the left is sock yarn, from Belfast Mini Mill on Prince Edward Island. It’s a beautiful heathered green-blue. The bright turquoise is laceweight from Tanis Fiber Arts. And the Dala horse is . . . just because. 🙂

I also got a cap from Larry’s ship:

The classes on Saturday were wonderful. The knitters were fun and enthusiastic about learning the techniques. In fact, we now have a group on Ravelry dedicated to the wonder that is a toe-up toe, called “Toe Cuppage.” And a challenge has been issued there . . .

For my travel knitting I cast on a sock.

Can you guess the yarn and colorway? 🙂

My purchase of the weekend — I discovered that KnitWits carries Lawre’s Laine bags. And they had a style I hadn’t seen before — a pouch:

I love how it has a stitch counter attached to the drawstring! It’s big enough to easily carry a sock or two or a smaller lace project.

It was raining when I left for work this morning, and I actually saw some leaves on the ground! This makes me ridiculously happy — autumn is coming. But I’m not fooling myself. I’m sure we’ve got some hot weather ahead before it really gets to be autumn. Still, it is nice to have the illusion of autumn!

Since you haven’t seen it for a while, I’m posting a pic of the sock-in-progress:

This is Madeline Tosh sock yarn in the Malachite colorway. I’m loving this yarn. It’s got my favorite base — tight twist 100% merino. And it’s green! How could I not love it?

And it is being knit up very slowly. Since I’ve got a big lace project to work on at home, this sock only comes out during my commute. And more often than not, the morning commute only. The afternoon commute has been too crowded for knitting lately.

But I’m hoping to finish this sock by the end of the week and have the second sock started to take to New York with me this weekend. I’ll be at Knitty City Saturday evening for a book signing (5 – 7 pm), and Sunday for classes. I hope I’ll see some of you there!

I just got enough reward points from my VISA card to order a free $50 iTunes gift card. Wheeeeeee! So soon I’ll be buying 50 songs from iTunes. Wanna help me out? Leave the name of a song from the 1960s to 1990s in the comments to this post and on Monday (September 14) about noon-ish my time I’ll fire up the Random Number Generator and pick some folks to win the WendyKnits pattern of his/her choice, which will be delivered in pdf format via email.

Doesn’t matter if the song you name is one I’ve already got — I just need some inspiration here!

I’ve put the Order to Chaos Shawl pattern up for sale in my Ravelry store for $5.00. Or, you can buy it directly by clicking this button:

There were a couple of questions about using a heavier yarn to knit it — you could definitely knit it using a worsted weight yarn. I’d recommend a U.S. size 8 needle or thereabouts, but you could do a swatch to see how you liked the resulting fabric and adjust accordingly. And of course the shawl — well, blanket now, would be much larger. But I guess that’s the point, huh? 🙂

Thanks for all your kind comments about this design! I am very happy with it. It was fun to knit, not very difficult, but entertaining enough to keep my interest, and I love the yarn — Dream in Color Smooshy. So what’s not to like?

By the way, I purchased my Smooshy for this shawl from my very favorite purveyor of yarn, Sheri at The Loopy Ewe. Note that Sheri has an anniversary sale going on right now — The Loopy Ewe has been in business for three years now! This week, through Friday, all Lorna’s Laces yarn, Knitspot patterns, and Zecca accessories are on sale — 20% off! What a deal! I might have purchased some Lorna’s Laces last night. 😉

Sheri is having two more sale weeks this month to celebrate the anniversary, so keep an eye on her blog for news and updates.

So.

I’ve moved on to a new lace project. Behold — a pink blob!

This, as I mentioned yesterday, is some lovely Black Bunny Fibers laceweight. It’s 1300 yards of an alpaca/shetland blend. Not too fine — the 1300 yard skein weights 230 grams (a bit over 8 ounces). I particularly like slightly heavier laceweight, so this is just about perfect as far as I’m concerned. And good golly, look at that yummy colorway! It’s called “Hot Lips.”

I’m using a US 3 (3.25mm ) needle, because what I’m going for is a more solid rather than airy look.

I have embarked on a Faroese shawl, knitting it from the top down. It’s kinda hard to see what’s going on here, but here’s a pic of the center back motif.

I finished the Order to Chaos Shawl last night at approximately 7:30 pm.

I used approximately 1500 yards of fingering weight yarn and a US 5 (3.75mm) needle. Specifically, I used Dream in Color Smooshy, in the “Shiny Moss” colorway.

As is my wont, I blocked this baby by steaming the living daylights out of it with my steam iron. Apologies to those of you who requested a YouTube video of said steaming process. I was by myself when I did this so was unable to film it.

Well, Lucy was with me, but her lack of opposable thumbs makes her a lousy camera operator. That and the fact that she is easily distracted.

Anyhow, unblocked, this was about 48″ in diameter. Lightly blocked it measures 60″ in diameter.

I worked up an edging that was more orderly than chaotic, and I’m liking the results.

The pattern will be available for sale in the near future.

From time to time y’all comment on how brave I am to allow Lucy to lounge around on my knits. No bravery involved — Lucy is very much disinclined to do damage to knits.

For starters, she has no front claws. (She was declawed before she came to live with me). And she is a very dainty girl. She has many knitted toys, most of them filled with catnip, and she does not hurt those, either. Rather, she plays with them rather carefully and carries them around as if they were her dolls.

I did start a new lace project, using the yummy pink yarn I pictured in yesterday’s post. That’s the alpaca/shetland blend laceweight that Carol of Black Bunny Fibers gave me when I was in Philadelphia.

But I’ll talk about that tomorrow.

Lucy sez:

“I want to know which among you were implying that I would harm Momma’s knitting.”

2017 Completed Work

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